Wrong
by escalus01
Summary: AU. In the aftermath of the battle between Gaara and Naruto Temari thinks about how she was wrong. Linked to A Meeting in the Forest.


**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto.

**Wrong**

Temari was forced to admit she had been wrong; she had made a lot of assumptions upon arriving in Konoha, assumptions that were now being proven false. She had thought that leaf shinobi were weak, that years of peace had made them soft, she had been wrong. She had thought that the invasion would go smoothly and the leaf would be crushed, she had been wrong. She had written off one little blond genin as a failure and a loser before ever seeing him in action, she had been wrong.

She almost could not believe it, it should have been impossible. No matter how many times these thoughts repeated themselves in her head the evidence was right in front of her. Her brother Sabaku no Gaara, Jinchuriki for the ichibi and mass-murdering insomniac had been defeated. To top it off the person who had done the deed had been none other than the blond genin who had helped her against the ame-nin in the second exam. The same boy whom, the first time she had met him, she had written-off as insignificant after he had fallen for Kankuro's simple trap. Naruto. She remembered after meeting the kid in the forest of death that he would not be able to defeat her youngest brother, she had been wrong.

When the kid had shown up to help his teammate, the Uchiha, Temari had just watched awaiting the inevitable. Fear permeated every fibre of her being; Gaara's bloodlust was so strong that she did not think that three Genins would be enough to quench it and after them she was closest. However, incredibly, what she had seen happen countless times before had not come to pass this time. She had watched in a sort of fascinated horror as Naruto had had taken everything her brother hit him with and got back to his feet every time. She was fascinated because no one had ever lasted this long against her little brother before and she was horrified because Naruto's persistence was driving him to even higher levels of bloodlust. However despite Naruto's determination she had decided that the fight was over when Gaara had completely released the demon within himself.

She had been wrong.

The blond boy had pulled an ace out of his sleeve by summoning the legendary frog boss, Gamabunta. As the battle raged Temari could not stop shaking, she was an experienced kunoichi but she had never seen a battle on this scale before.

Then halfway through the fight between the two giant beasts Naruto had helped the frog boss transform into a giant fox, what was more this fox had nine tails. At the time she had been puzzled, according to her information the Kyuubi no Yoko was the scourge of the leaf village, why would Naruto call on its image to aid him in battle?

She had continued to watch, as Naruto had pulled out a strange second chakra different to the first. His usual chakra made her think of the wind for some reason but this one made her think of fire, she had remembered he had done the same thing against the Hyuuga in the exam. Suddenly she understood, she knew why Naruto had called upon the image of the fox and what this strange chakra was. He had to be the jinchuriki for the Kyuubi and that second chakra belonged to the demon inside of him. However this realisation had brought with some a new question, if Naruto also had a demon sealed inside of him, and just any demon but the most powerful and destructive of them all, why had he not turned out like her brother?

She watched as he had used the fox's chakra to punch her brother in the face, awakening him from his self-imposed slumber and effectively resealing the Shukaku. She had continued to watch as Naruto had ended the fight with a simple head butt, even though it was completely inappropriate to the situation Temari could help thinking that he must have a really hard head.

The defeat of her youngest brother had caused two emotions to rise up in Temari, fear and relief. Fear because she had spent the majority of her relatively short life deathly afraid of Gaara and here was a _boy_ who could equal him at full strength. Relief because it was difficult to be afraid of Naruto, at least it had been from where she had been sitting.

She had felt the waves of killing intent rolling off of him but had not felt the fear that usually accompanied it. Somehow she could tell that it was not directed at her. Gaara on the other hand, even with his back turned to her, had made her cower in terror. Any other time she would have laughed at the irony of it, finding fear in her brother and peace in her enemy. Even when Naruto had used the Kyuubi's chakra she had not been too afraid. Although the fiery chakra had been intense it had reminded her less of a raging inferno and more of a beacon.

She had heard the boy boasting a lot during her stay in Konoha, about how he would one day be Hokage and she almost believed him. Part of this belief, possibly all of it, came from his reasons for fighting. She had heard that the shinobi of the leaf valued their comrades beyond all else but seeing that principle in action had taken her breath away. Naruto had put his life on the line for his teammates and his village; he almost seemed to be the embodiment of the values the leaf held so dear. She could have laughed, it was just her luck to end up fighting a goddamn hero, although maybe that had not been such a bad thing this time. It was a pity no one from his village had seen the fight; he would definitely be promoted if they had.

Temari's attention returned to the present and she found herself looking down at the two warriors, both lying in the dirt both conscious but apparently unable to move. Then Naruto began to move, he started dragging himself forward using his chin! He had to be digging really deep. She could not hear what they were talking about but what she saw in Gaara's eyes was unmistakable she had seen it many times before in the eyes of others but never in his. It was fear.

Finally Naruto seemed to run out of energy and seemed to surrender himself to unconsciousness. Almost as soon as he did one of his teammates, the Uchiha, was at his side. For a second Temari hesitated but decided that abandoning her brother was not an option, even if he was something of a monster. She found it something of a surprise to find that Kankuro appear at their brother's side too, she had not noticed him approach.

After a few tense moments she and Kankuro were carrying Gaara away from the battlefield (for some reason he felt lighter this time) and to her surprise it had been he who had ordered the retreat. Just when she thought she had heard and seen it all life threw one more shock her way.

"Temari, Kankuro. I'm sorry."

Gaara had apologised. For a fleeting second she had the strange thought that Naruto had literally beaten some sense into her youngest brother. After that idea had passed she suddenly had the feeling that the future was going to be a lot better. That what she had believed to be truly impossible had happened, he had changed.

She had made a lot of presumptions upon arriving in Konoha and one little blond genin had proved them all wrong.

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As always constructive comments are welcome, please read and review.


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